There’s little argument the financial services industry needs more women advisors. The question is, how can it grow the ranks of women?

By disrupting the status quo, according to speakers at Financial Advisor magazine’s second annual Invest in Women conference in Dallas.

“Why keep doing things the same way?” asked Eleanor Blayney, consumer advocate at the CFP Board, at the event’s opening session Tuesday.

The industry needs to diversify just like advisors do with a portfolio, she said, “so we can cover the whole breadth of the population we’re serving.”

CFP Board research shows that 23 percent of CFP practitioners are women, Blayney said, adding the percentage has been static over the years.

That can change, though, if female advisors work to attract more young talent and build support networks, the panel said.

“Ask for advice and create advocates” within your firms, said Melissa Joy, partner and director of wealth management at the Center for Financial Planning in Southfield, Mich.

Look for organizations to join and support and opportunities to connect with young people at high schools and colleges, said Jocelyn Wright, chief executive of Ascension Wealth Management in Jenkintown, Pa., chair of the State Farm Center for Women and Financial Services and assistant professor at The American College.

Women face challenges in being hired, being heard, getting paid fairly, rising in the ranks and balancing family and work demands, the panel said.

Even the microphones for the session caused a problem for the female speakers. “They don’t fit on our dresses, and we had to get rid of our jewelry.” Blayney joked.

Raising a family is a special challenge for working women. Joy noted that industry conferences may highlight industry mavens who have been able to carve out personal time from their businesses, but stories about creating maternity leave for young mothers are lacking.

Firms need to structure pay and benefits to keep people with families, she said, and “men should be encouraged to take maternity leave as well’ so there’s no stigma attached to taking time off.

As women advance in their careers, they face new challenges. “As men become more powerful and rise in an organization, they become better liked, while for women it’s the opposite,” Blayney said.

And women in the industry are paid less, Blayney added, by about $32,000 per year, according to CFP Board research. That figure is adjusted for experience and production.

The impediments need to be changed if the industry hopes to attract a more diverse talent pool.

At public companies, a 30 percent female workforce  is the “critical mass” that research shows makes a difference, Blayney said. “There is a measurable return on having women in the firm,” she said.

By way of example, Joy recalled a case at her firm involving a married couple, where the wife was overly stressed from work. The male advisors wondered why she worked at all, because she didn’t need to.

The men “looked at the numbers. I asked about her career objectives” and reasons for wanting to stay in the workforce, Joy said, allowing the planners to better address some of the emotional issues the couple was dealing with.